“Thank you for this Veritable Feast, Nina”

Ninajirachi has unveiled her latest icy cool EP, girl EDM, boldly reclaiming a genre that might catch you off guard! But maybe it shouldn’t if you have covered any of her recent moves.

No need to worry. Despite the title, this electronic dance music is not just for girls, nor is the female gaze required. Instead, Nina captures how crystal-clear female vocals (sometimes incomprehensible) can be paired with heart-pumping bass to tremendous, utilitarian effect.

girl EDM internalises what was so successful about her 2023 4×4 EP and, in my opinion, ventures out into more interesting territory. It is a refreshing reinterpretation of established EDM styles. The EP not only highlights her 24-year growth as an artist – revisiting sounds that initially ignited her passion for music production – but offers listeners something altogether exciting and unexpected. Each track has its own character:

• ‘girl EDM’: the big sister; confident, condescending and wickedly attractive.

• ‘Ice u out’: the coolest ever! She’s got effortless fashion, she’s drop dead, she’s got a hair tie on her wrist, and you can bet she covers the bathroom mirror with lipstick.

• ‘Hand on my Heart’: the annoying little cousin too cute to piss you off and possessed of an infectious little giggle. Love him or hate him you’ll never get that orange Bolognese stain off his lips.

• ‘Ninacamina’: the definition of the cool aunt. Cigarettes, inappropriate gifts and incessantly asking whether you have a kindergarten girl or boyfriend.

What makes this Nina’s best release since ‘dracodraco’? It’s the balance. The crisp, confident bass that creates a tactile landform for the high pseudo-vocals to pierce through. It’s fun and it makes sense – two traits that can both be lost in the electronic music scene. The drop of “Ice u out” has a nauseating quality, unleashing fuzzy synths that oscillate so violently that the whole thing feels claustrophobic. Yet rather than making you green, the sheer intensity of it all makes you grin, compelling you to accept the ambush of sound and submit to the basketball-bouncing bass barging through the short-circuiting electronic melody.

Let’s dissect some of my favourite lyrics from Nina and Izzy on the track ‘Ninacamina’. The song opens with a slap, “head on my wet cemented beds”. The insinuation is that the concrete bed hasn’t set yet. Has the character made a mess? Do they feel uncomfortable in their own bed or are they just restless? And why are there so many beds? However, further along, Nina moves into the second person, demanding something of some other: “Go ahead and put your / head on my wet cemented beds”. And there comes the filth. The beds are gritty and viscous, but they don’t care. So what if it the cement sets on them and they have to rip it up and start over (think Lightning McQueen and Radiator Springs); they’ve had their fun. Nina goes on to repeat the passage “ice, calcium, nice”, where ‘ice’ is cool and solid, ‘calcium’ is a fortifying mineral constantly osteoblasting and osteoclasting our skeletons together in a furious fusion, and ‘nice’ is well, always ‘nice.’ Cryptically, the track speaks to a particularly relentless, some might say reckless behaviour – Nina’s telling us to hit hard without worrying about facing the music tomorrow. Another night in another wet cemented bed can’t hurt if you don’t let it.

What would make this EP better? Not much, but definitely a collaboration with Danny L Harle. The combination of cinematic synth timbres would compliment each other to no end. Alas, I will have to wait for this reality and perhaps putting it out in the universe might actually make it happen!

I’ll depart with a polite request for Nina: “Four more, please”.

100

try and stop me \_^-^_/

Fedele De Campo

20 June 2024